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Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (9th)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
346
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Blade Servers (1st), Rack Servers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is 4.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 4.3%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series4.3%
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series4.3%
Other91.4%
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Technical Marketing Engineer Hybrid Cloud Infrastructures at NetApp
Policy-driven data centers have delivered low-latency connectivity for critical applications
The most critical and important feature in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is VPC. Apart from VPC, there are many other features in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series that stand out as advantages. You can apply access control lists on that. You can do Layer 3 capabilities. You can configure HSRP. You can implement VRFs. You can isolate the L3 network within your data center. It has a lot of features including network segmentation capabilities. You can apply a lot of security hardening and manage the access on the switches through auditing to see who is doing what and restrict access based on the network admin role. These are great features. The overlay technology support in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is good for large-scale deployment where you are going to build something like a hyperscaler. You need more network segments, and with VXLAN, you can definitely build a large fabric with those Nexus switches.
Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"We are using the core capabilities of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Ethernet switches, and it is performing well."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"The performance in data center operations with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is excellent; we have never faced any performance issues."
"For one of the biggest European customers, they deployed Cisco Nexus for their core networking and it has been running for a few years without having a single downtime."
"The features for manageability and visibility are impressive."
"RealPresence works effectively."
"The stability and reliability of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series are robust, and once you put it on, it does not just fail; that takes a long time, maybe even years."
"My experience with customer service has been positive."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series has given us a stable platform to build on, which is significant for us because we do high-frequency trading, so stability and performance are crucial."
"These web servers were easily manageable from as early as 2003. We have a very large building, and it was possible to manage them remotely in a simple way from as early as 2003."
"Any necessary adjustments can be made seamlessly without the need to unplug cables, as everything is contained within the rack itself."
"My favorite features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been the redundancy and reliability."
"They provide good support for part replacement, and when they cannot because the part is unavailable, they are pretty good at informing us and letting us know, but generally, these servers just sit in the data center and have been working 24/7 for years without any problems."
"These servers have maintained a level of uptime that is needed by the business and that satisfies the business owners and makes them very happy."
"I would recommend Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers if you want reliability, sustainability, and greater performance."
 

Cons

"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"If I have a Juniper and want to uplink with Cisco, there could be some configuration challenges."
"The potential for improvement lies in the licensing aspect, which is somewhat confusing. The perpetual and subscription licensing is a concern."
"Even though it is expensive, I am not sure about the return on investment. It is expensive, and you will need to pay for subscription fees that also are not cheap."
"For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches, I think we need to work on the HSRP. Whenever it flaps or something happens, it creates an issue."
"We find that Cisco has been left behind by the other vendors. The other vendors have adopted new technology, and we find Cisco lagging behind."
"I would like to see features that control traffic and maintain service continuity during the transfer of signals from physical connections to servers."
"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
"The accessibility when opening up the chassis could be improved, but since we haven't had to do that since installation, it's not a big deal for us."
"Dell PowerEdge servers are not fail-proof; from that perspective, hardware remains a potential point of failure."
"It's more from the pandemic, however, the logistics part of it could be better."
"Because we've been looking at new Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers, it's quite hard to find the right specifications."
"Reduced cabling and improved power consumption management would be beneficial improvements."
"Regarding improvements, due to the cloud area and cloud platform, the on-premises server, Dell PowerEdge R-Series, might become less prominent. However, it won't disappear, as the cloud platform will remain the primary concern."
"If I could improve Dell PowerEdge R-Series in any way, I would suggest that they consider adding more redundant power supply options."
"When integrating the PowerEdge rack, we needed help from all the different companies to combine it with the servers. Each company has a system, and things must align with the server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The tool's pricing is very good."
"It is very competitive. I have not been too involved in the licensing, but from a hardware perspective, I always find them to be competitive."
"We would prefer it if the pricing were for half the cost. We have been expanding our company, and my boss stated that we must save money."
"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."
"The price is good for the quality of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."
"Dell's solution was cheaper than HP's solution."
"The pricing for PowerEdge servers is reasonable."
"The price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
22%
Outsourcing Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business123
Midsize Enterprise69
Large Enterprise153
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I have not configured the DNA, but I have configured Cisco Intersight, and from Intersight, I have managed monitoring of the servers and switches. I have not given a 10 because there is some depend...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I am a system integrator and user myself. I have worked with Cisco Smart switches, Nexus switches, and Meraki MS switches. I have deployed these switches for Oil and Gas companies in India.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I have been dealing with Cisco series Smart switches and Nexus series, and I have worked with the Nexus switches. I have good support from the overlay technology support in Nexus 1900 for enhanced ...
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Dell PowerEdge R-Series could improve by addressing the issue of temperatures and problems with RAM memory, as those are generally where we have had issues. The modules, specifically the DIMMs, ten...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge R-Series is for private cloud infrastructure. A specific example of how I use Dell PowerEdge R-Series in my environment is for private cloud provisioning for 5G....
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs. Dell PowerEdge R-Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
919,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.